The Victoria Free B-Film Festival returns with drive-in moviesAttention moviegoers and theatre regulars: one of Victoria’s more unique festivals is returning. The Free B-Film Festival shows a variety of films—from blockbusters to less-remembered flicks—in outdoor spaces around the city. This year has some new surprises in store, and festival organizer Donovan Aikman is happy to talk about them. “The Victoria Free B-Film Festival […] Continue Reading |
Metal band Necronomicon finds happiness in extremityNecronomicon vocalist/guitarist Rob “The Witch” Tremblay says that there is nothing he hates more about being in a metal band than practicing guitar by himself. The frontman says he feels out of sorts if he is not on stage playing for fans with his fellow band members. “I’m not the kind of guy sitting at […] Continue Reading |
Canadian actress/playwright Kirsten Van Ritzen looks back on all her day jobsKirsten Van Ritzen has had no shortage of dead-end and offbeat jobs. Her play All My Day Jobs details, with a comedic twist, the experience of what it’s like to work the jobs that no one wants to. “At least the first seven jobs in my play, I did while I was a student,” says […] Continue Reading |
German conductor Alexander Weimann finds peace in musicGerman soloist and conductor Alexander Weimann says that Johann Sebastian Bach is the reason why he became a musician, so it makes sense that he’s performing Bach’s Mass in B Minor here in town on August 6 (the piece will be performed on period instruments for greater authenticity). Weimann says that Bach is “the strongest […] Continue Reading |
Seaweed guide revamped and reissued for 2016Talk about cult classic. Pacific Seaweeds: A Guide to Common Seaweeds of the West Coast was originally published 15 years back, to the delight of… one would imagine very few, as this is about as niche as niche gets. But here we are, a decade and a half later, and the book has sold 10,000 […] Continue Reading |
New Music Revue: Consilience’s Under Our Bed a soothing listenConsilience Under Our Bed (independent) 4/5 Edmonton’s Consilience is the project of multi-instrumentalist Tasy Hudson, a solo musician with, among other instruments, a guitar, a synthesizer, and a loop pedal. On Under Our Bed I can hear what Hudson is trying to get across with her soft tones and gentle melodies. The addition of instruments […] Continue Reading |
The Importance of Being Earnest delivers more than just laughterBlue Bridge Repertory Theatre’s take on Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest spearheaded a stream of laughter on Thursday night, and for good reason: the performance was done very well. Still, it’s not without room for growth. The play was once described as “a trivial comedy for serious people” by Wilde; if you study […] Continue Reading |
Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival returns to Camosun groundsIf you’ve been hanging around the Wilna Thomas building on Camosun’s Lansdowne campus, you might have noticed actors and actresses rehearsing a play nearby. Director Barbara Poggemiller is working on Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale “by the huge beautiful oak trees” at Lansdowne for the Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival. Some critics regard The Winter’s Tale as […] Continue Reading |
New York dancer coming to Victoria’s ROMP! festThis year’s ROMP! Festival Of Dance will feature the premiere of Joshua Beamish’s new solo collection, Lone Wolf. Beamish, who moved from Vancouver to New York in 2012 and has been working with the ROMP! festival since 2007, says he “basically grew up in a dance studio” as his mother owned one when he was […] Continue Reading |
Jazz singer Jaclyn Guillou says collaboration countsVancouver’s Jaclyn Guillou doesn’t hide away these days: the jazz vocalist is performing at this year’s Victoria International JazzFest, and she just released a new album, This Bitter Earth, a tribute to legendary jazz musician Dinah Washington. However, her singing began in a much more secretive fashion. “My piano teacher recognized that I had vocal […] Continue Reading |
